When Pontiac introduced its restyled ‘70 Firebird, white and blue were the only exterior colors available—both purposely selected to represent traditional American racing colors. While Special Paint-Solid (or SPS) was available at extra cost on many Pontiacs of the era, it seems divisional management was unwilling to waiver when it came to Trans Am—most likely because of its many unique exterior components were sourced in color.
Most ‘72 Trans Ams were painted Cameo White or Lucerne Blue. Did you know that one was delivered in Starlight Black? Here it is! This photo was taken shortly after Gabe Gonzalez purchased the car in 1975. What a sinister looking T/A!
Apparently, Trans Am’s special-paint restriction was relaxed for the 1972 model year. You may be aware that Pontiac produced a few special-paint ’72 Trans Ams. I’ve personally documented four so far—one in code-75 Cardinal Red, one in code-14 Revere Silver, and one in code-24 Adriatic Blue.
Car Distribution Bulletin 70-78 affirmed to Pontiac dealers that the Trans Am was only available in limited color choices. This restriction would appear in various forms of 1971 and 1972 Pontiac sales literature.
I learned of the fourth special-paint ‘72 Trans Am when it surfaced on eBay in the mid-2000s. It was black and appeared to retain its original paint. I contacted the seller hoping to learn more. He told me he’d owned the car since 1975 and sent a copy of its factory-to-dealer invoice. Like other special-paint cars, it had a “1” in the exterior color box and as such, its original color was undeterminable. I could only assume it was the same code-19 Starlight Black found on other Pontiacs that year. Nonetheless, it was the fourth documented example!
Gabe thoroughly enjoyed his black ‘72 Trans Am taking it on many road trips such as this one to Lake Piru, north of Los Angeles. He was completely unaware of its special-paint provenance.
In the years that followed, I maintained sporadic contact with its owner, Gabe Gonzalez. While recently discussing 1972 Firebirds with a fellow hobbyist, the topic of special-paint Trans Ams arose. He was completely unaware that a black ‘72 Trans Am even existed. That’s when I decided the story of Gabe’s car might be an excellent entry for PontiacV8.com. I approached Gabe and he agreed. I’m excited to share his story with you for the very first time!
In 1976 Gabe installed Hooker headers and side-mounted exhaust replacing the original components.
Gabe has been a Southern California resident his entire life. “I was a street racer back then and had a couple of fast Camaros and a short-wheelbase ‘70 Chevy van with a big-block 427 and TH-400 that could pull the front wheels off the ground,” he says. “I never lost a race in my red ’68 Camaro, but I messed it up. I needed a car and my brother suggested a Trans Am. I saw a couple of them at the dealerships and thought they looked pretty good, so I started checking the newspaper ads to see what was out there.”
While nothing is presently known of the original owner who ordered this special-paint Trans Am, it was advertised in the classifieds section of The Van Nuys News on January 3, 1973. It had just 8,000 miles on its odometer at that time.
In late-September 1975 an advertisement for a ‘72 Trans Am in The Los Angeles Times classifieds caught Gabe’s eye. “It was listed by private party that lived in Manhattan Beach,” he recalls. “When I got there, the shiny black paint and Cragar wheels really attracted me. My red Camaro had a white stripe and the Trans Am did, too. It looked rather racy with the Shaker hood scoop. I bought it and drove it home. I paid about $2900 for it.”
The Trans Am was listed by a private party in the June 2, 1974 edition of The Los Angeles Times.
Gabe was completely unaware that he acquired a special-paint ‘72 Trans Am. It was completely stock, but a previous owner replaced its original 15 x 7-inch Rally IIs and F60-15 tires with (aforementioned) Cragar S/S wheels and GR50 x 15 BF Goodrich Radial T/As. “Those tries are still on the front, but I replaced rears with wider LR50-15 Radial T/As because I wanted the tires to fill and be at the edge of the wheel well. The L-sized tires were so wide that there are gashes in rubber from hitting the quarter panel lips,” he says.
Barely three weeks later on June 23, 1974, the Trans Am again appeared in The Los Angeles Times—this time by a dealer who recognized the uniqueness of its black exterior.
According to original paperwork, Gabe’s special-paint Trans Am was built at the Norwood, Ohio assembly plant in late-February 1972. Though we know it was customer-ordered, nothing is known of its original owner, who took delivery at Prestige Pontiac in Van Nuys, California in March 1972. In addition to standard Trans Am equipment, the original owner selected the TH-400 automatic transmission and added such options as Custom Interior, Front Console, Power Windows, AM Radio, and Air Conditioning—the latter necessitating a 3.08:1 axle ratio.
It was this advertisement in The Los Angeles Times on September 24, 1975 that Gabe noticed the Trans Am. He went to look at it and purchased it shortly after.
Still in high school when he purchased the Trans Am, Gabe says he was already transitioning away from hardcore street racing. “It was set up for luxury. I street raced it here and there, but nothing like I did with my Camaros or the van. The Trans Am was pretty competitive, but it wasn’t setup for light-to-light races—it just wasn’t that type of car. It was beautiful for long rides on the open road. I added a cassette player under the dash and 6x9-inch speakers in rear deck. I’d take it on the freeway, roll down the windows, turn up the radio, and just enjoy it. With the CB craze at the time, I also added a CB radio and put the CB antenna on the rear deck lid,” he says.
After a high-speed blast, the 455 H.O. developed a mechanical issue. Gabe first thought he’d blown a cylinder head gasket, but upon teardown found this hole in the cast-aluminum timing cover.
The 455 H.O.’s original exhaust manifolds had cracked. Gabe replaced them with four-tube Hooker headers and added Corvette-style side-mounted 4-inch-diameter glass packs. “I pulled the original exhaust system off, installed the headers, and then drove the Trans Am uncorked about 10 miles to the muffler shop to have the side-pipes installed. A friend’s father-in-law was an LAPD sergeant and he followed me in case I got pulled over. The stock exhaust sound was great, but the car sounded amazing with the headers and side pipes. It was so beautiful.”
The Trans Am was stored in a garage early on, but later Gabe moved it outside where it sat under a tarp.
One day in 1977, Gabe experienced a significant issue with the black Trans Am. “I was traveling down the freeway with my girlfriend and wanted to see how fast it would go. I went faster and faster and when I finally looked down, we were doing 135 mph. The car started shaking a bit, so I backed off. When I got to my friend’s house, I shut it down and it spit out of the carburetor. That was unusual and I knew something wasn’t right. I looked beneath the car and sure enough, there was a 4-inch puddle of water and oil. I knew then it wasn’t good. I figured it blew a head gasket.”
The special-paint ’72 Trans Am still wears its original Starlight Black paint. Notice the white beneath the black finish on the front end components. More on this later!
Gabe towed the Trans Am home and proceeded to disassemble the 455 H.O.’s top end. “When I got it apart, I found it wasn’t a blown head gasket, but the timing chain cover had a big hole in it—about 1-inch wide and 2-inches long. The timing chain stretched at high speed, hit the cover, and put a hole in it.”
Gabe still has all of the 455 H.O.’s original components from when he disassembled it in 1977.
With about 87,000 miles on it, Gabe planned to rebuild the 455 H.O. while it was apart. “I did my research,” he says. “I ordered a 1972 Service Manual from Pontiac and there was a shop in Torrance—H-O Specialties—I got their catalog. I wanted to make sure I got the right camshaft for the power range. I also wanted to get Rhoads lifters. I started pricing parts and got a quote from a machine shop to perform all the engine work.”
The handsome black custom interior remains quite original.
To further increase performance, Gabe planned to add a nitrous oxide system. “I went to Marvin Miller Machine Shop in Whittier who specialized in fabricating intakes manifolds,” he says. “I was going to have him plumb the 455 H.O. intake manifold for nitrous, put the tank in the trunk, and use a plunger on the gas pedal to operate it. I was also going put red and orange lights in the driveshaft tunnel. I wanted the lights to illuminate when the nitrous kicked in so the guy I was leaving in the dust, all he’d see is the red and orange glow from beneath the car.”
The “1” in the color section of the factory-to-dealer invoice notes code-SPS Solid Special Paint. I’ve found that while “SPS” appears on special-paint 1972 Formula invoices, it doesn’t appear on those of special-paint 1972 Trans Ams. The $113 option (which increased to $115 later in the year) does appear on the window sticker, however. Was this Pontiac’s method of allowing dealer’s to collect for additional preparation (painting plastic pieces)?
The Trans Am sat in Gabe’s garage as he finalized his plan and gathered the funds to repair it. “I was going to restore in 1978 or 1979, but a friend advised me to buy a house instead. And then I got married and had kids. Over the years the money I was always going to use to fix it up went to other expenses. I moved several times and always took the Trans Am with me. It was garaged for the first 20 years, but it sat outside covered with tarps since. The original black paint is rough and there’s some rust on the body. The passenger side quarter panel is also dented from an accident I had driving to work in the spring of 1977. It still has the same tires on it when I parked it in 1977.”
The cowl-mounted data plate on all GM vehicles of the era typically contains the Upper and Lower exterior color codes. Dashes were often used on special-paint cars and this special-paint ‘72 Trans Am is no different. Without a build sheet, there’s no way of truly knowing what it’s original color was.
In the early 2000s Gabe was looking to fund a different project and decided to sell the black Trans Am. In preparation for the sale, he ordered a copy of its factory-to-dealer invoice from PHS Automotive Services. Upon receiving the Trans Am’s paperwork, Gabe was astonished to find that it was a special-paint car. ”I had no idea until I received the PHS info. When I learned that, I thought it was cool and that I’d be able to get a little more money for it,” he explains.
The Trans Am was involved in a minor accident in early 1977. Gabe intended to repair the damage, but not before the Trans Am was sidelined by mechanical issue. The gray you see here is the original primer. Gabe scraped away some of the black exterior paint to see if there was any other color beneath it.
Gabe listed the black Trans Am on eBay in July 2006 and that’s when I saw it. “I never expected the response it received. When considering how long I owned it and how unique it was, I decided that I really didn’t want to sell it and pulled the listing. I planned to restore it and created a website using the pictures I’d took for the eBay auction, but I never did publicize it again.”
A previous owner added white accent striping to the rear spoiler.
As with any unique car, naysayers were quick to question legitimacy. “I saw comments on a forum where the guys doubted its authenticity,” he said. “They looked at some of the photos I posted and believed it wasn’t the original color because they saw gray paint beneath it. I scrapped off some of the black paint and found that what they saw was the original gray primer. I looked all over the car and couldn’t find any other color but black. I never responded to the guys on the forum, but I knew it was originally black.”
Under hood, the Trans Am is largely unmodified. Its number-matching YE-coded 455 H.O. remains nestled between the frame rails.
Nearly two decades have passed since I first learned of the black ‘72 Trans Am, but one thing kept gnawing at me. It’s absolutely a special-paint car, but was there any documentation to support that it was originally black? I asked Gabe if he’d ever looked for a build sheet. “You know, back in 1976 I locked my keys in the trunk,” he recalled. “I removed the back seat to crawl in and find the keys. When I did that, I found the original build sheet back there and put it away.” He couldn’t remember any special instructions on it, but said he’d look for the sheet. A couple of days later a copy of the Trans Am’s original build sheet arrived in my inbox. It confirmed that Gabe’s Trans Am was painted Starlight Black at Norwood! We now know Pontiac produced at least one black ‘72 T/A!
Gabe found the special-paint Trans Am’s original building behind the rear seat when he removed it to retrieve the keys he’d locked in the trunk. Note “W51 Spec Paint” among the RPO codes.
Gabe still has plans to restore his Starlight Black Trans Am. “These days I’d restore it back to original, but I love the hooker headers and side pipes.” In retrospect, he adds, “I really enjoyed the Trans Am then and still enjoy it today. I was pretty wild back then. It’s hard to believe I’ve had it all these years. Life happened and every time I had the money to fix it, something else came up. It’s a good thing I didn’t rebuild it the way I planned to because if I would have, I wouldn’t be sitting here talking with you about it.”
The “926-96459” in the handwritten instructions is GM’s internal code for Starlight Black. Since the Endura bumper and all plastic components were sourced in color, those on Gabe’s Trans Am were originally white. A pint of Starlight Black paint was supplied with the car and the delivering dealer was tasked with painting them upon arrival.
This Starlight Black ‘72 Trans Am is one of 1,286 units that Pontiac produced in the strike-shortened model year. It’s amazing to know that (4) documented examples were produced in non-standard colors. While each could very well be the only one produced in their respective colors that model year, we cannot assume that they were the only special-paint ‘72 Trans Ams. If Pontiac was willing to produce four, it opens the possibility that other special-paint ‘72 Trans Ams are out there waiting to be uncovered.
Do you know of any?
(Photos courtesy of Gabe Gonzalez)